Once Upon A Time Toastmaster Club Lewisville, Texas

6/28/20

 

My husband and I are avid readers.  I admit he is the more intellectual reader. Each morning he enjoys his coffee and reads the Lexington Herald-Leader and Courier-Journal online and on Wednesdays he enjoys the weekly newspaper dropped off by an actual paperboy.  His choice of books are Pulitzer Prize winners, while my tastes in books run the gamut from Silas House to Michael Crichton. No book is out of bounds as long as I am enjoying it.  Imagine our excitement when fervent readers, such as ourselves, ran across Once Upon A Time, who described itself almost as a book club. My husband and I  jumped at the chance to see what this club was all about.

 

We were greeted enthusiastically almost like we were old friends who met previously between the well-worn pages of a favorite novel.  “Where the Crawdads Sing” was the book for this month’s discussion.  The Table Topics questions loosely revolved around the book but I was able to answer a question deftly even without ever reading the book.  Great job to the two speakers for casually working in scenes from the book as they delivered their Ice Breaker speeches.  Fifteen minutes was devoted to conversation about the book at the end of the meeting.  That discussion was so interesting and lively, I knew I would be getting a copy for that book for myself.  It sounded right up my alley.   

 

The evaluators used two different evaluation methods.  Andres, the visiting area director, used the” Roses, Thorns, Rosebuds” method. He said, for example, the first rose: the speaker had good transitions, for the second rose: the speech had good organization. The thorn would be how the speaker could improve and the Rosebud is something to challenge the speaker.  I had never heard of this method so I was thrilled to be learning something new.  The second evaluator, Sara, used the “What I heard, What I saw, What I felt” method.  I have seen this method used a few times.  Both evaluators gave some valuable insight in their evaluations. 

 

Kudos to this specialty club for combining the best of my two worlds, the love of reading and speaking(Toastmasters).  Next month the book they will be reading is “Bluebird, Bluebird" by Attica Locke.  Time to make a trek to the library or a purchase online, because my husband and I may just end up joining in for the discussion next month.